Abstract

The present study aimed to evaluate the efficiency of advanced oxidation methods: Fenton, UV/Fenton, and O-3/Fenton in the treatment of municipal wastewater. The effect of H2O2:Fe2+ ratio, pH, and reaction time on chemical and biological parameters: chemical oxygen demand (COD), biological oxygen demand (BOD5), total coliform (TC), and Fecal coliform (FC) were evaluated in different advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) methods (Fenton, UV/Fenton, and O-3/Fenton). All parameters were measured according to the standards methods. The results obtained from the present study showed that the highest removal of pollutants was achieved in H2O2:Fe2+ mole ratio of 0.7:1. Furthermore, the removal of COD, BOD5 were increased when pH increased from 4 to 7. Moreover, reaction time influenced COD, BOD5, TC, and FC until equilibrium time, however, its influence was not significant after equilibrium value. A comparative study on different AOP systems showed the order of highest to lowest removal efficiency of all parameters is as follows: O-3/H2O2/Fe2+ > UV/H2O2 /Fe2+ > H2O2/Fe2+. It can be concluded that Fenton and its modified methods have the promising potential for advanced municipal wastewater treatment.